Before we get to specific foods whose toxicity levels change when heated or reheated, let’s go over the basics you will want to keep in mind to avoid cooking-related toxins in general:

Ditch the Microwave

Today, 90% of all American homes have a microwave oven and remain unaware of the risk. I know how convenient cooking with a microwave can be.

However, a study conducted by the University of Vienna almost thirty years ago linked microwaving to nerve damage and lowered kidney function. Other studies have connected it to a drastic reduction in liposome activity, needed to inhibit harmful bacterial growth.

Never Use Saran Wrap, Plastic Ware, or Styrofoam to Reheat Food

If you must use the microwave, NEVER use containers or lids that are made of plastic in any form. Plastic cookware and coverings release a variety of harmful substances when heated.

Two of the most toxic substances are polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and biphenol A (BPA). BPA is a xenoestrogen that has been directly linked to breast cancer. Styrofoam contains styrene, which the International Agency for Research on Cancer has deemed a “probably cancer agent.”

Don’t Use Teflon Cookware

The main ingredient in most non-stick surfaces is polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), which has been labeled as “likely to be carcinogenic to humans” by the EPA.

Dupont’s Teflon also contains PFOA (C8). Studies show a correlation between PFOA and immune system issues, thyroid issues, pancreatic cancer and breast cancer. Approximately 98% of the population of the U.S. has some level of non-biodegradable PFOA in their bloodstream.

Stay Away From Aluminum Foil

Using aluminum foil as a cover or container for heating foods (and using aluminum cookware in general) releases this substance into the food. Aluminum exposure has been linked to neurological issues and long-term exposure has been linked to Alzheimer’s, autism and ADHD.

When we eat these veggies raw, the bacteria in our mouth convert these nitrates into nitrites, which are then stored in the cells until they are needed in the form of nitric oxide, a natural anti-inflammatory that can calm blood vessels and help to increase blood flow.

The heating process converts nitrate in veggies into nitrites before they enter your mouth; each time you reheat them, they become a little more toxic. Because of this, the best way to eat celery, carrots, spinach and beets are organic, raw and as fresh as can be!

2. High-Protein Foods

Eggs, chicken, and even mushrooms are all protein powerhouses but these proteins begin to deteriorate as soon as you cook them. The protein composition of chicken in particular, which contains a higher protein content than red meat, changes when it goes from cold to hot the second time around. All this puts added strain on your digestive system.

The best bet for these kinds of foods is to only cook up what you think you will consume in the first sitting. If you must reheat chicken, make sure it is very hot through and through. Eggs and mushrooms, in particular, are vulnerable to microorganisms. It is best to never reheat them at all.

3. Rice

Cooked rice of any variety stored in the fridge improperly may be at risk of developing bacterial spores that can cause food poisoning. This is especially true if the rice is left to sit at room temperature because it can lead to rapid spore multiplication which can cause severe digestive upset and even poisoning. If you do reheat rice, be sure it has been stored properly in an airtight container.

4. Potatoes

Potatoes should be avoided or eaten in moderation if one is on a healthy breast protocol because of their high sugar content. That being said, cooked potatoes do contain vital nutrients such as vitamin B6, potassium, and even vitamin C.

When cooked potatoes are left at room temperature, however, or are slow-cooked a second time, they can turn toxic. Warm temperatures can promote the growth of botulism in potatoes so always refrigerate them immediately and throw away anything that has potatoes in it after a couple of days.

5. Oils

Certain oils have very low tolerance to heat and will even turn carcinogenic the first time you cook with them. These include grape seed oil, hazelnut oil, and flax seed oil. When you reheat these kinds of oils a second time, they will become rancid. Never use these oils for baking or cooking. Instead, consume them fresh, drizzled on top of a salad, steamed veggies or organic meats.

Consuming fried foods when dining out is never recommended under any circumstances. This is because most restaurants use the same oil all day for their frying. A recent study found that the toxin 4-hydroxy-trans-2-nonenal (HNE) forms when common restaurant oils, such as canola, corn, soybean, and sunflower, are reheated. HNE has been connected to a higher risk of heart disease, stroke, Parkinson’s Disease and cancer.

Follow these guidelines (or, even better, reach for the goal of getting most of your nutrition from fresh, organic foods) and you will be on your way to significantly reducing your toxic load. And remember – when it doubt, throw it out!

Religion has caused a lot of unnecessary pain to mankind, despite whatever truth and good intentions their followers may hold. Restrictive, false and dangerous religious beliefs abound throughout the world, and dominate the mainstream teachings of organized religion.

Some of these dangerous religious beliefs fool you into thinking you can out-source your morality, ethics or spirituality to some external organization. Others prevent you from taking full responsibility for yourself and your actions, thus hindering you from stepping fully into your power. Others goad you into a false sense of security where there is none. All of them limit you and the deeper realization of Who You Are, and all of them stem from the single fundamental delusion of separateness, i.e. that we are discrete and separate beings, that some people are better than others and that there is somewhere better you need to get to. It is an idea based on separateness leads to judgment and exclusion, and can never be as true and powerful as one based on connectedness.

You may think that beliefs are harmless. They can be, but they can also have serious ramifications. Remember Voltaire’s quote: “those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” If you can convince people to follow you or your group, and that they will get rewarded in some way by doing this (e.g. get to Heaven, get fame, money, sex, knowledge or power, receive safety and security, etc.), you are well on your way to getting them to commit acts of unconsciousness.

Next comes tests of loyalty: will they lie for you? Will they cover up for you? Will they cheat for you? Will they die or kill for you? Beliefs can have horrible consequences. If you can’t tell truth from lies, you pave the way for corrupt people to seize power and manipulate you with deceptive propaganda. How many people have murdered in the name of God, or committed heinous crimes in the name of religion, all stemming from their dangerous religious beliefs?

All of the following common religious beliefs are disempowering obstacles in the way of true freedom.

Dangerous Religious Beliefs #1: God is on My Side

So many people get stumped on this one, and all sorts of horrendous division, judgement, condemnation, war and bloodshed has occurred over it. It takes on various forms: god is on my side (not yours); my god is better than your god; my god is the correct god (not yours); god will favor and reward me (not you), etc.

Let’s reduce it to the basics. What is God? For most people, it’s their idea of the infinite being, the creator of all. Another way of saying this is that God = All That Is. If we literally insert the phrase “All That Is” into sentences that contain “God”, look at the results we get:

God is on my side => All That Is is on my side

How exactly can All That Is be on your side? How can All That Is have any sides? If it did have sides, how could it not be on all sides at the same time? After all, it includes everything.

My god is better than your god => My All That Is is better than your All That Is

How can you have my or your All That Is? How can you possess All That Is? It’s everything, so it belongs equally to everyone, if it is even able to be possessed. Now, you may have an idea of All That Is, which is your idea to hold onto, but that’s just your idea. It’s your perception or understanding of All That Is. It is not All That Is itself. So again, by inserting All That Is, we reduce the sentence to meaninglessness (reductio ad absurdum as they used to say in Latin).

My god is the correct god => My All That Is is the correct All That Is

Like the one above, this becomes nonsensical. How can there be a correct or right All That Is? All That Is is simply All That Is. It just is. It’s neither correct nor incorrect; it’s all of it.

God will favor and reward me => All That Is will favor and reward me

More exclusiveness. I’m “in” and you’re “out”. I’m part of the “in” club, and you are not. This is a powerful delusion and one of the most dangerous religious beliefs. It underpins many of the following religious beliefs.

Dangerous Religious Beliefs #2: My Religion is the Only True and Correct Religion

The very word “religion” is derived from the Latin verb religare, meaning “to bind”. Thus, etymologically, religion describes the binding of oneself with God. Some people such as the founder of the Sufi tradition in the West, Hazrat Inayat Khan, have suggested that each and every human is a religion unto themselves, because of their unique and individualized relationship with the Infinite. (Sufism, by the way, is the Path of the Open Heart, and is inclusively open to anyone of any religion, and is not, as widely believed, a subset of Islam.) There cannot be one true religion, because religion itself is a belief system, a lens, a set of perceptions about what Life and God is. Most people adopt the religion they are born into through coincidence of birth. Life is about remembering and experiencing our own connection with the Infinite, not mentally adopting someone else’s belief system.

Dangerous Religious Beliefs #3: Non-Believers or Infidels are “Evil”

Psychologically speaking, humans want to belong and to feel accepted. This primal need is exploited by many religions, and twisted into a compulsion to make themselves right and everyone else wrong. If you’re in the club, and your club is the true and correct one, then by definition, everyone else must be wrong – and sometimes evil too. The non-believer or heretic is not only an outsider, but also someone who doesn’t deserve full moral treatment, and often can be seen as less than human. History has shown us that just by thinking differently and independently, you frequently run the risk of being condemned and killed for your trouble.

There are a plethora of examples of how people outside a certain religion are considered evil. Look at the dreaded Inquisition whose goal was to suppress heresy at any cost. More recently, documents have shown how British 3 year olds were told that non-Jews are “evil” in a Kindergarten worksheet handed out at ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools in north London. In the Torah, slaves taken from among outsiders don’t merit the same protections as Hebrew slaves. Islam has the concept of “dhimmitude” which is a set of rules to deal with non-Muslims (monotheists are more highly regarded than polytheists). You can check out these Bible quotes to see what Christianity thinks of non-believers. In the end, it is often simply too much for religions to tolerate the free-thinking non-believer, since he or she threatens the illusion and shows that people can be completely free, happy, kind and content outside of religion.

Dangerous Religious Beliefs #4: We Are The Chosen People

The idea that “God” has a favorite set of “Chosen People” is another one of these silly yet extremely divisive and dangerous ideas that you find in numerous religions. It is a central tenet of Judaism that Jews are God’s chosen people. The Bible states that Christians are the chosen ones. In the faith of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, there are exactly 144,000 places reserved in Heaven for the chosen people. Calvinism contains the concept of predestination which teaches that a certain special few (God’s elect) are to receive eternal life and salvation by grace, while the rest get eternal damnation for all their sins. In monotheistic religion in general, you are condemned to Hell, eternal damnation or some other kind of imaginary Doom for making the wrong decision in this life for not “believing” in the “official” way it is – according to the supposedly enlightened leaders of those organized religions.

Dangerous Religious Beliefs #5: Jesus, Mohammad and Other Prophets Were a Special Kind of Human that You Can Never Be

Many of the world’s main religions love to teach that there is something special or magical about their prophet, as opposed to other religions, spiritual paths and traditions, and also as opposed to YOU! This is another example showing that most organized religion is based on separation, not connectedness. Jesus is the ONLY son of God – you are not. The false notion is that all the prophets are not leaders you can emulate, but rather godly beings who you need to put on a pedestal and worship. You can never be as good as they were, because you’re just a dirty little sinner. All this, of course, is in direct contradiction to what Jesus actually said, if we are to believe the Gospel of John 14:12:

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.”

Greater works than Jesus – I wonder how the Christian censors let that one through!

Dangerous Religious Beliefs #6: Sacrifice the Now for a Better Future

Many religions achieve power and popularity through psychological trickery. One of the most effective ways to control people is to promise them a better future – especially if that future is an afterlife about which it is difficult to prove anything. By making elaborate and grandiose promises of Heaven-like afterlives – whether they be full of angels, milk and honey, or hundreds of virgins – you can fool people into accepting horrendous conditions in their current lives. You can also stifle people’s motivation to do anything constructive about their situation now. After all, if this life is nothing compared to the pending glorious afterlife, why bother?

Of course, the tendency to deny the (real) now and live in the (imagined and not yet real) future is ego-driven dysfunction and insanity. Eckhart Tolle in The Power of Now sums it up best:

“(The ego) constantly projects itself into the future to ensure its continued survival and to seek some kind of release or fulfillment there. It says: “One day, when this, that, or the other happens, I am going to be okay, happy, at peace.” Even when the ego seems to be concerned with the present, it is not the present that it sees: It misperceives it completely because it looks at it through the eyes of the past. Or it reduces the present to a means to an end, an end that always lies in the mind-projected future. Observe your mind and you’ll see that this is how it works.

The present moment holds the key to liberation.”

There is a place in life for thoughtful planning and long-term thinking, however this is not the issue here. The problem is compulsive thinking and too much attention focused on the past and future, rather than an embracing of the now and the present moment – which is all you truly have anyway.

Dangerous Religious Beliefs #7: Obey Us or Go to Hell

Invented afterlife notions provide further fodder for the cunning to exploit the foolish. Bribing people with eternal life works well, but conversely, you can also blackmail people with eternal damnation. Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and others have all concocted ideas of a fire-and-brimstone Hell-like afterlife, replete with pain, never-ending torture and demons. AsValerie Tarico writes:

“Most Buddhists see hell as a metaphor, a journey into the evil inside the self, but the descriptions of torturing monsters and levels of hell can be quite explicit. Likewise, many Muslims and Christians hasten to assure that it is a real place, full of fire and the anguish of non-believers. Some Christians have gone so far as to insist that the screams of the damned can be heard from the center of the Earth or that observing their anguish from afar will be one of the pleasures of paradise.”

Dangerous Religious Beliefs #8: The Indulgence System (Paying for the Right to Do Evil)

Organized religions such as Catholicism championed an ingenious business model during the Middle Ages, which still persists in various forms to this day. It was the Indulgence System. Indulgences were the right to do evil. If you have the say over what God allows or not, why not make some money off it? As the website Grand Design Exposed states:

“Apparently, the Indulgence System had been a Church tradition since Pope Leo III had begun granting them in the year 800, payable in the money coined by Pope Adrian I in 780 … Indulgences were floated on the Church’s credibility, rather like government bonds are issued on the credibility of states today. In 1491, for example, Innocent VII granted the 20-year Butterbriefe indulgence, by which Germans could pay 1/20th of a guilder for the annual privilege of eating dairy products even while meriting from fasting. The proceeds of the Butterbriefe went to build a bridge at Torgau. Rome’s indulgence economy was as extensive as America’s income tax system today. And it was every bit as fueled by the people’s trembling compliance, voluntarily, to a presumption of liability.”

In 1515 Pope Leo X (whose father happened to be the great Florentine banker Lorenzo de’Medici, of the Venetian Black Nobility) issued a Bull of Indulgence, which authorized a whole array of indulgences:

“(Leo) authoriz(ed) letters of safe conduct to Paradise and pardons for every evil imaginable, from a 25-cent purgatory release (the dead left purgatory the instant one’s coins hit the bottom of the indulgence-salesman’s bucket) to a license so potent that it would excuse someone who had raped the Virgin Mary. For the payment of four ducats, one could be forgiven for murdering one’s father. Sorcery was pardoned for 6 ducats. For robbing a church, the law could be relaxed for only 9 ducats. Sodomy was pardoned for 12 ducats. Half the revenues from Leo’s indulgence went to a fund for the building of St. Peter’s Cathedral, and the other half to paying 40% interest rates on bank loans subsidizing the magnificent works of art and architecture with which His Holiness was establishing Rome as the cultural capital of the Renaissance.”

What a profitable racket! It’s business as usual for the Vatican, who still use the Indulgence System to manipulate people, such as this absurd attempt to get Pope Francis more Twitter followers …

Dangerous Religious Beliefs #9: Christ Died to Pay for Our Sins

This one is obviously from Christianity, but you may find parallels in other religious doctrines. This one requires a serious perversion of reasonable and clear thinking. Christian doctrine declares something like this:

“We celebrate Christ’s death, because it is only through his death and atoning sacrifice that we are reconciled to God and have forgiveness of sin. Every time we partake of the communion of the bread and cup, we are celebrating the death that purchased our redemption.”

This is utter nonsense – and I mean that literally. It is non-sense. It is completely non-sensical. It requires a suspension of ordinary logic and the adoption of a twisted way of thinking to even try to turn this idea into something resembling a cohesive notion.

Secondly, how can a person dying 2000 years ago “pay” for our “sins”? Your own actions, thoughts, feelings and state of being determine your outcome – period. Only you can “redeem” yourself – by forgiving yourself, apologizing to another, and changing your behavior going forward. What Jesus did or didn’t do a long time ago can’t absolve you from the fundamental truth that you are the creator of your own life and destiny. There is nothing to “pay” for, because a real God of Love doesn’t require humans to prostrate down before it and sacrifice themselves.

The word “sin”, by the way, can be better translated as “to miss the mark” or to err, which strips it of all its moral guilt-laden overtones the Catholic Church loves to use on its followers. If you merely make a mistake or error, which every single human does all the time, depending on whom it affected and how it affected them, there may not be anything to “pay” at all for it.

Dangerous Religious Beliefs #10: Holy Wars

Many of history’s wars and genocides have been fueled by dangerous religious beliefs, including the Christian crusades of the Middle Ages and the many bloody battles recounted in the texts of the Koran and Torah. Even within religious sects there can be a holy war, as can be seen with the constant in-fighting between Sunni and Shia Muslims. Sadly, today we have still not as a species risen above the delusion that war and mass murder can be holy, noble, pious and “the will of God” … although the will of God always seems to be interpreted for us by learned religious scholars and leaders whose word is untouchable. The recent rise of ISIS shows that religion can still be used by some to justify heinous crimes such as large-scale theft (of oil and land), rape and murder.

Conclusion: Religion is Beset with Madness

These 10 dangerous religious beliefs just go to show that most organized religion has long been infected with madness and insanity. The history of religion shows that, overall, it is a highly distorted lens through which to see the world, whatever good it may bring to individual cases. Ultimately, humanity is entering a new era of consciousness where religion and priestly middlemen are no longer necessary. If religion is to survive going forward, it needs to drop all its dangerous religious beliefs, rigid doctrine, stale dogma, sense of superiority and outdated notions in a big hurry – before it becomes an antiquated irrelevance.

Have you ever changed your behavior, or made certain choices, because you were afraid of creating bad karma? If so, you are not alone — most of us have done this many times, and, if we are very spiritual or religious, this might even be a way of life.

I’ll confess, when my young kids were misbehaving, I would “threaten” them with karma – suggesting that their “bad behavior” would come back to bite them in the future. I must say that it worked, because the fear of some mysterious force made them think twice before they acted out. Although it may have been a helpful patenting strategy at the time, I knew as they got older I would have to correct this misleading misnomer, so by the time they were teenagers I told them the truth about karma — and now I want to share it with you, along with 3 effective steps release yourself from the karma loop.

Busting Loose from Karma

A key concept in Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Taoism, karma is derived from the Sanskrit word Karma meaning “action”, “act” or “deed”. The most well-accepted concept of karma is cause and effect, meaning that whatever we do comes back to us and we must pay the unavoidable price for harming others by experiencing that harm ourselves; and according to certain spiritual traditions, we carry this karma from lifetime to lifetime until we rectify our karmic-debts or break the cycle of reincarnation through enlightenment.

On the surface, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with this approach to karma – after all, what’s the harm in being nice, and what’s to lose by doing the right thing? Well, probably much more than you can imagine, and, in fact, this old model of karma often contributes to disempowerment and loss of free-will, making it a hidden trap in disguise.

What’s the Harm in Karma?

The biggest problem with the traditional model of karma is that it is impossible to track all the consequences of our actions, and even a loving act can ripple out and hurt someone. For instance, let’s say, you find a stray dog and decide to adopt him, but, meanwhile the dog’s young owner is heartbroken and it sets him on a downward spiral in life – you helped the dog but hurt the boy, and, as a result, he grows up to hurt others. Does this mean that you are karmically responsible for hurting the young boy and all the people he eventually hurt as a result?

Moreover, genuinely good intentions could actually be harmful in the long-run; for example, staying in an unfulfilling relationship because you don’t want to hurt your partner may seem kind and loving, but your actions could keep your partner from finding an authentically loving relationship with someone else.

On the other side of the coin, let’s say that you behave unkindly toward someone, but your bad behavior propels him/her into making a powerful life changing decision, and, in fact, the impact of this decision ripples out to help the world.

The point is, there is no way to know how the ripple effect will impact others, and, in fact, if you trace the ripples outward, you will inevitably discover that every action results in both positive and negative consequences. So, taking all this into consideration, how is it even possible to discern the karmic consequences of your behavior, and if you cannot make this discernment, how can you realistically prevent negative karma?

When you consider all the potential effects of our actions, there is no possible way to avoid unwanted karma. Simply by virtue of living, we create karma with every choice, causing us to rack up more and more karma from one lifetime to the next. Therefore, there is no way to “get ahead” of cause and effect. In this old model of karma, the “karma cards” are stacked against us, and it’s a convoluted game we can never win!

However, once you understand the truth about karma, and its hidden purpose, it’s a game you can stop playing altogether – so, let’s go further down the rabbit hole until it all makes sense…

Karma is Feedback

The Universe is conspiring for our awakening, but in order to wake-up, we must become conscious — and this requires that we make the unconscious conscious, however, how can we know the unconscious if we are not conscious of it? Well, the best way to make the unconscious conscious is through feedback, and, this is why the Universe has created the perfect “feedback technology” in the form of life. In fact, the purpose of life is to demonstrate our conscious and unconscious beliefs, thoughts, emotions and intentions. So, even if we hide judgment and hostility by acting with love and kindness, life has no choice but to reflect our hostile judgment back to us in one form or another.

Actually, it’s even simpler than this, because when we look closely, it becomes apparent that our thoughts, emotions and intentions are all manifestations of our beliefs, and, therefore, it’s accurate to say that the purpose of life is to demonstrate our beliefs, and this demonstration is known as karma.

This understanding allows us to create a New Model of Karma, and according to this model, karma is a foolproof feedback system that operates by manifesting our beliefs as actual life experiences, with empowering beliefs manifesting as positive experiences, and resulting in joy and fulfillment, and disempowering beliefs manifesting as negative experiences, and resulting in challenges and emotional pain.

All disempowering beliefs funnel back to three core beliefs: unworthiness, powerlessness and victimhood. But these beliefs are universally false, so when we believe them, we experience emotional feedback in the form of pain and suffering. This is not to punish us, but rather, pain and suffering is intended to make us pay attention to the fact that we believe an inherently false belief, and if we don’t pay attention, the pain and suffering escalates until it reaches an unbearable threshold that forces us to seek relief. So, in order to find a permanent cure, we must ultimately identify and release the disempowering belief(s) that are responsible for the pain.

A New Understanding of Karma

The old model of karma tells us that it is best to forgive and forget because certain assertive actions can create bad karma; and as a result, we are taught to avoid these behaviors. But when we are afraid to speak our truth, take a stand or set boundaries, we disempower ourselves, thereby reinforcing the disempowering beliefs that keep us asleep. As an unfortunate result, for some, the fear of karma is a prime source of powerlessness and sometimes even victimhood.

The New Model of Karma shows us that behaviors that support disempowering beliefs perpetuate ongoing karma because those beliefs will keep manifesting in our lives. So, instead of avoiding negative karma by being nice, you might be creating negative karma for yourself whenever you tolerate abuse and remain disempowered.

Let’s say that you are in a relationship with an aggressive person, but you are afraid to stand up for yourself – not because you are afraid of your partner, but, rather, because you believe the old model of karma and you are afraid to create bad karma for yourself. So, instead of asserting your power and setting boundaries, you choose to be kind and loving, and, consequently, your partner’s aggressive behavior does not change and you are locked in a cycle of disempowerment.

According to our New Model of Karma, the relationship is demonstrating your beliefs about powerlessness in order to draw your attention to this disempowering belief so that you can release it.

Firstly, this means that you must identify the belief as false, and, secondly, you must consciously choose to release the belief. This choice also requires a physical demonstration in the form of action, and, therefore, you must dispel the false belief of powerlessness by claiming your power and demonstrating it through empowering actions, such as speaking up for yourself and enforcing boundaries, and you must continue to do so for as long as it takes to experience improved feedback or a tangible shift in circumstances; this translates to a positive change in your partner’s behavior or the dissolution of the relationship.

When you no longer believe in powerlessness, you will stop manifesting disempowering relationships, because you no longer need people to act out this belief by disempowering you, and, consequently, all past negative karma associated with the belief will also be resolved – ultimately aligning you with mutually empowering relationships.

The 3 Steps to Releasing Karma

Step 1 – Take Full Responsibility

The first step to releasing karma is owning the responsibility for every experience in your life; whether you like it or not, you create your reality through your conscious and unconscious beliefs, and, therefore, no one, but you, is responsible for your life.

As long as you blame the world for your woes, you have no ability to receive informative feedback that comes in the form of experiences, and without the benefit of this fool-proof feedback system called karma, you inevitably lock yourself in a vicious karmic-cycle.

However, there is no need to worry because you have the power to free yourself. Once you own the full responsibility for your life and all its karmic-feedback, you will possess the golden key to emotional freedom, and you can use this key in steps 2 and 3 to consciously transcend karma, and when you do, you will be on the path to self-mastery.

Step 2 – Identify Disempowering Beliefs

Once you recognize life’s karmic-feedback, you can use that information to identifying your beliefs. It is fairly easy to identify any karma-causing beliefs because disempowering beliefs attract complementary experiences that reflect those beliefs, and, in turn, those experiences trigger the same beliefs, so you just need to identify the beliefs that surface during and after challenging experiences. Hint: disempowering beliefs always surface as negative thoughts, so if you consciously examine your thoughts, you will be able to identify your beliefs.

For example, if a situation causes you to feel unworthy, you can be sure that the pre-existing belief of unworthiness manifested the situation in the first place, and because the current situation makes you feel unworthy, you unconsciously perpetuate the belief of unworthiness, thereby manifesting future experiences that trigger feelings of unworthiness – the endless pattern continues until you break this karmic-cycle. In this case, getting off the karmic wheel of unworthiness requires you to address this false belief, release it and ultimately claim your unconditional worth.

Step 3 – Take Empowered Action

Once you choose to release the disempowering belief and accept its empowering counterpart, it is essential to take empowered actions that demonstrate the new empowering belief. For instance, if you are releasing the belief of powerlessness and accepting the belief that you are intrinsically powerful, your actions ideally support self-expression in such a way that they demonstrate your intrinsic power. Or, if you are releasing the belief of unworthiness and accepting your unconditional worth, your actions would align with worthiness – this might include nurturing yourself or developing positive self-talk for example.

Mind Your Own Karma

Despite how it sometimes feels, you are not responsible for another person’s experience or their emotions. The most loving thing you can do is allow everyone to have their own experience, feel their own emotions and grow in the way they choose – even if they don’t choose to grow.

If you find yourself reacting to another person’s predicament, instead of trying to help or change him, look inside yourself and locate the part of you that is emotionally triggered – maybe it is because you have a similar unhealed wound and it is time to heal.

Set Yourself Free!

By understanding this New Model of Karma, you have the knowledge to free yourself from past and future karma, but don’t just take my word for it – find out for yourself. You just might discover that the truth really can set you free!

“I was within a month of having my head shaved, taking my vows, and becoming a monk,” Bowie said about this period of his life.

The year was 1967. David Bowie was 20.

Young David Jones (David Bowie’s real name) was 13 when he developed an interest in Buddhism after reading “The Rampa Story” by T. Lobsang Rampa. Over the next four years, his interest in Buddhism and Tibet grew until he was visiting the Tibet House in London up to four times a week.

But the man in the saffron robes, Chime Yong Dong Rinpoche, became Jones’ guru for several months.

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a Tibetan monk who had fled Chinese oppression, was at Samye Ling Monastery in Scotland. His fame and that of Buddhism was beginning rising on that side of the Atlantic, attracting a new generation of western seekers. David Bowie had started coming around Samye Ling monastery with his friend and collaborator, Tony Visconti (who had just worked on Bowie’s song, Blackstar), as well as that of Bowie’s girlfriend at the time, Hermione Farthingale.

While he didn’t become a monk, Bowie did in fact study for a short time with Tibetan Buddhist teacher Lama Chime Rinpoche, who remembers him fondly in a video below. Without a doubt, Lama Chime Rinpoche and the singer were close.

Bowie’s 1967 song “Silly Boy Blue,” one of his first originals, was a tribute to Lama Chime Rinpoche.

In the song’s intro from the ’01 Tibet House performance, Bowie recalls “stumbling into the Buddhist Society in London when I was about 17, and sitting in front of me at the desk was a Tibetan lama” who would become “my friend, and a teacher for quite some time. […] This was ’65, ’66. Right about that time, I wrote this next song. ”

Lama Chime Rinpoche issued a video of remembrance and prayers for David Bowie.

“I can not express in words,” he says. “I am so sad.” Rinpoche goes on to tell of meeting Bowie in 1965 — a story Bowie told his version of in 2001 at Tibet House — and also of knowing Bowie’s producer and collaborator, Tony Visconti. Then, before issuing prayers, Rinpoche says, “I’ll meet him again in the next life.”

Slowly and painfully. That’s how sleep deprivation kills you. The worst part? You don’t even need to miss out on that much sleep to be considered deprived. 6 hours or less is the magic line; cross it and you’ll raise your risk of developing these 7 deadly diseases.

“For most people, blood pressure falls at night,” says Dr. Diane Lauderdale. “It could be that with shorter sleep it’s just not enough for that dip to take place.”

#2 – Viral Infections

As you sleep, your immune system is hard at work producing ‘T-cells’ that keep viruses from overpowering your immune system.

“A lot of studies show our T-cells go down if we are sleep deprived,” says Dr. Diwakar Balachandran, director of the University of Texas Sleep Center. “This could potentially lead to the greater risk of developing a cold or flu.”

#3 – High Blood Sugar

In one study, researchers asked healthy participants to sleep 4 hours a night. After just 6 days, their glucose (sugar) tolerance was, on average, 40% lower. That placed them at risk of developing diabetes.

This waste accumulates on the brain, producing damage that ultimately leads to Alzheimer’s.

#5 – Suicide

Thanks to a decade-long study from Stanford University, we know that sleep deprivation drastically increases one’s risk of suicide – even if they’re not depressed. The Stanford researchers actually observed this firsthand, when 20 sleep-deprived study participants took their own lives.

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